Monday, July 30, 2012

370M Indians swelter in heat after power fails
By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press

– 31 minutes ago
NEW DELHI (AP) — Northern India's power grid crashed Monday, halting hundreds of trains, forcing hospitals and airports to use backup generators and leaving 370 million people — more than the population of the United States and Canada combined — sweltering in the summer heat.
The blackout, the worst to hit India in a decade, highlighted the nation's inability to feed a growing hunger for energy as it strives to become a regional economic power.

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at
www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales

Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information on affected area and expected duration please see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/drap/index.html.

"...the decision by the BBC, which won the right to broadcast the Olympic games, to present Israel to the world as a country without a capital.

Jerusalem originally showed up on the official website as the capital of a country, but it was East Jerusalem, and the capital was “Palestine,” not Israel.

"Following complaints filed last week by Mark Regev, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Olympics site was changed.

Now Jerusalem does not appear as the actual capital of any country at all. Israel, shorn of its capital, appears with the cumbersome and questionable listing as having its “seat of government is Jerusalem though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.”

And as for “Palestine,” its key fact is that its “intended seat of government is East Jerusalem.” For now, however, it at least has an “administrative capital” which is Ramallah.

"...The opening sequence will evoke a pastoral idyll, the "green and pleasant land" described in William Blake's poem "Jerusalem," which has been set to music and is regarded as England's unofficial national anthem."

"...Boyle hasn't disclosed what comes next, but has said the ceremony will depict Britain's past, present and future..."

"...Aerial photographs of the set for the second section of the show depict dark buildings and smokestacks with the River Thames running through it. This is the other side of the country described in "Jerusalem" — a land of "dark satanic mills." (Ed. note: the poem offers a different perspective).

"A third act will tackle the regeneration of east London, where the Olympics are taking place, as parkland and a creative heartland, home to many artists, designers and Internet startups."

MBOSTRUMS2'S blog provides a compelling anaylsis of the historical events surrounding the Nation of Israel an the 9th of Av...

The XXX Summer Olympics will be held in London and will begin on Friday night, July 27. I saw some startling coincidences that I am using for prayer points.

•2012 is the 40th anniversary of the Munich Massacre. This was the XX Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany. A Palestinian group called Black September kidnapped Israeli athletes and murdered 11 of them.
•July 27 at sundown begins Tisha B’Av, the most dreaded day on the Hebrew calendar (see timeline history below). At the same time of the opening ceremony of XXX Summer Olympics, Tisha B’Av begins as Shabbat begins over Israel
•The Logo for the XXX Summer Olympics resembles ZION. In fact, Iran has threatened to boycot the Olympics because they say it ‘does‘ spell ZION.

•The month of Av is the most dreaded month on the Hebrew calendar with history repeatedly showing that if anything tragic is going to happen to Israel it will happen in the month of Av. Israel is already on high alert with all the surrounding countries in turmoil. In 2005 Iranian President made a statement that Israel ‘must be moved off the page of time’, a phrase than came to mean that Israel ‘must be moved off the map’. Today’s headlines read Iran Threatens Israel as EU Sanctions Kick In (TheStar.com 7/1/12)

Monday, July 23, 2012

Forty years ago, during the Munich Summer Olympic Games, terrorists belonging to the Palestinian Black September organization entered the Olympic Village, kidnapped members of the Israeli Olympic team, then killed eleven of them and injured twenty more during a botched German rescue operation; there is worry in Israel and London that Iran, using its own operatives or Hezbollah’s, would try a spectacular 40-year anniversary attack on the Israeli delegation to the games

Sunday, July 22, 2012

'What the world economy really needs right now is a break', one economist says, but instead it appears headed toward upheaval'

Freak weather in some of the world's vital food producing regions is ravaging crops and threatening another global food crisis like the price shocks that unleashed social and political unrest in 2008 and 2010.

As the US suffers the worst drought in more than 50 years, analysts are warning that rising food prices could hit the world's poorest countries, leading to shortages and social upheaval.

The situation has sparked comparisons to 2008 when high food prices sparked a wave of riots in 30 countries across the world, from Haiti to Bangladesh.

Nick Higgins, commodity analyst at Rabobank, said: "Food riots are a real risk at this point. Wheat prices aren't up at the level they got to in 2008 but they are still very high and that will have an effect on those who are least able to pay higher prices for food."

Panetta: Syria Situation "Spinning Out of Control"
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2012 – As Syrian violence escalates and concerns grow about that nation’s chemical weapon stores, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today the international community must place maximum pressure on President Bashar Assad to accept a peaceful transition from power.

“What is happening in Syria represents a real escalation in the fighting, and … by ignoring appeals by the international community [for Assad to step down], the violence there has only gotten worse and the loss of lives has only increased,” Panetta said, “which tells us that this is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control.”

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A U.S. Navy refueling ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates shot at an approaching vessel on Monday, increasing tensions in the region. The USNS Rappahannock, opened fire on what has been determined to be a small Indian fishing boat, after repeated warnings to stop its approach. An Indian fisherman was killed, and three of the crewmembers were injured. The Indian foreign ministry announced its embassy in Abu Dhabi is investigating the incident. The United States has been ramping up its presence in the Persian Gulf as tensions increase over Iran's nuclear development program. Iran continues to threaten to close the Straight of Hormuz, a vital waterway. Iran criticized the United States over Monday's shooting saying, "We have announced time and again that the presence of foreign forces can be a threat to regional security." In response to increasing tensions, the U.S. officials have announced that the Pentagon is building a missile-defense radar station in Qatar at an unspecified site. Qatar houses the largest U.S. military airbase in the region. The United States is also organizing minesweeping exercises set to begin in September to address threats from Iran to mine the Straight of Hormuz.

July 16, 2012 The blistering summer and ongoing drought conditions have the prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to declare a federal disaster area in more than 1,000 counties covering 26 states. That’s almost one-third of all the counties in the United States, making it the largest distaster declaration ever

...6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

RSOE
A freak wave of tornadoes ripped through northern Poland on Sunday, wrecking houses and swathes of forest and leaving one person dead and another 10 injured. Tornadoes are not unknown in the European Union's largest eastern country but the scope and power of Sunday's twisters was unusual and comes in a summer already marked by flash floods, hailstorms and gales. Some 1,200 rescuers were working to remove fallen trees, unblock roads and restore utilities in the hardest hit Baltic region of Pomerania. Trees were uprooted, buildings damaged and power lines downed, while some 550 hectares of woodlands in the Tuchola Forest area were flattened. "I saw a black column coming our way," an injured inhabitant of the Wycinki village, whose farm was destroyed by the tornado told state television. "It carried everything away with it ... birds, debris, sucked up water from the lake." A caravan with a family of three inside was seen flying through the air in the village of Stara Rzeka and breaking into pieces upon landing, but its occupants suffered no serious injuries. "The sole fatality was a 60-year-old man in the Pomeranian village of Wycinki who was crushed to death by his collapsing summer cottage," fire brigade spokesman Pawel Fratczak told Reuters by telephone. The tornadoes were the latest outburst of violent weather that has battered Poland since the start of the month with hailstorms, gales, cloudbursts and flash floods. Meteorologists categorising the twister as a class two tornado with wind velocity of up to 200 km/h.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Lead Me in Your Righteousness
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch...

...11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Answer Me When I Call
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

4 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

2 O men,[a] how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.

4 Be angry,[b] and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.

6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Save Me, O My God
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
3 O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God. Selah[a]

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.

7 Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people! Selah

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 as long as my breath is in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;
till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7 “Let my enemy be as the wicked,
and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry
when distress comes upon him?
10 Will he take delight in the Almighty?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?

13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
and his descendants have not enough bread.
15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
and his widows do not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay,
17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a moth's,
like a booth that a watchman makes.
19 He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;
he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
21 The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It[a] hurls at him without pity;
he flees from its[b] power in headlong flight.
23 It claps its hands at him
and hisses at him from its place.

BLOOMBERG:
More than 1,000 counties in 26 states are being named natural-disaster areas, the biggest such declaration ever by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as drought grips the Midwest.

The declaration makes farmers and ranchers in 1,016 counties eligible for low-interest loans to help them weather the drought and other disasters, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today. The USDA is also changing procedures to allow disaster claims to be processed more quickly and reducing the penalty livestock owners must pay for allowing animals to graze on land set aside for conservation, Vilsack said.

“Agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation’s economy,” Vilsack said. “We need to be cognizant of the fact that drought and weather conditions have severely impacted farmers around the country.” The declaration is effective as of tomorrow.

In-Depth Coverage
MOSCOW — For the last year, the Russian government has tried to project an image of neutrality in the increasingly bloody conflict in Syria.

Now, it may be sending a signal of support to its longtime ally, President Bashar al-Assad, by sending warships to the area. Russia may also want to protect its forces at its Tartus naval base.

A flotilla of Russian Navy ships set sail Tuesday for the Mediterranean, where Russia maintains a small base at Tartus, Syria.

A destroyer and three landing ships left the Arctic port of Severomorsk. A second destroyer left Russia’s base at Sevastopol, Ukraine. And Interfax reported that more warships from the Baltic Fleet, based in St. Petersburg, are preparing to join the flotilla.

The warships set sail the day after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin accused the West of “missile bomb democracy.”

In a key policy speech to top Russian diplomats gathered in Moscow, he accused the West of using deception to gain political advantage.

“This can be seen from the so-called humanitarian operations, from exports of the ‘missile-bomb’ democracy, and intervention in internal conflicts, including those bred by the ‘Arab spring’,” said the president.

Putin’s hardline rhetoric came as Syrian opposition groups have come to Moscow to lobby the Kremlin to stop supporting Syria's President Assad.

While briefing reporters, Basma Kodmani, a member of the executive bureau of the Syrian National Council, appealed to Russia to help Syrians turn the page and switch to a new democratic system.

According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those "symbols of paganism," which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not."

This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641. Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity. While most Western academics argue otherwise, according to early Muslim writers, the great Library of Alexandria itself—deemed a repository of pagan knowledge contradicting the Koran—was destroyed under bin al-As's reign and in compliance with Caliph Omar's command.

"...The Palestinian-Vatican pact is part of a bigger scenario, in which the Catholic Church is adopting a tragic appeasement on Islam. As the brave Andrew Bostom explained, the Vatican embraced “groveling Islamophilia, accompanied by criticism of the U.S. ‘war on terrorism’ as an ‘injustice’ to Muslims, and constant scapegoating of Israel, often expressed with strident animus towards the Jewish State.”

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is known for having a pro-Islam position, has been appointed by Pope Benedict as the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In a letter addressing his “Dear Muslim friends,” Tauran asked for Islamic help to form an alliance against atheism. The Vatican promoted “Love of God, Love of Neighbor,” the first three-day forum with Islamic leaders. The Pope agreed to meet one of the most dangerous Islamists in the Western world, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, Tariq Ramadan – the Swiss scholar who denies Israel’s right to life and who has been banned from entering the US because of his alleged association with extremists."

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

(CNN) -- Episcopal priests will be allowed to conduct services blessing same-sex relationships under a policy approved Tuesday at the church's national convention in Indianapolis.

The convention's House of Bishops approved the provisional policy 111-41 with three abstentions Monday, clearing it for consideration by the House of Deputies, which approved it Tuesday evening.

The policy was approved in the House of Deputies, following more than an hour of debate, by 78% of the voting lay members and by 76% of clergy.

Can 'true Catholics' favor same-sex marriage?

With the vote, the Episcopal Church will become the largest U.S. denomination to officially sanction same-sex relationships. The Episcopal Church has about 1.95 million members in the United States, down 16% over the last decade, according to the church.

The service is not considered a marriage ceremony, media affairs representative Nancy Davidge said.

Government turns a blind eye as fallout from Fukushima heads our way
By Michael Collins 07/05/2012

"...The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported on Feb. 21 that Los Angeles had more cesium-137 fallout than any other region in the nation during the opening days of the disaster, from March 15 to April 5, 2011.

The amount of Cs-137 detected in precipitation at a monitoring station 20 miles east of downtown was 13 times the limit for the toxin in drinking water, according to a report obtained by the Pasadena Weekly.

USGS released another astonishing study Feb. 22, with data from measurements taken at its Bennington National Atmospheric Deposition Program in Vermont, confirming a grim cesium-137 scenario for Southern California.

“Deposition actually decreased as the air mass traveled east to west,” Greg Wetherbee, a chemist with USGS, told the Brattleboro Reformer newspaper.

“In the United States, cesium-134 and cesium-137 wet dispersion values were higher than for Chernobyl fallout, in part due to the US being further downwind,” Wetherbee told the paper. “With Chernobyl, there was more opportunity for plume dispersion.”

This double whammy of cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, isn’t even in a uranium-60 buckyball. But they are both in the unfathomable spread of goo throughout the Pacific, riding on the second strongest current in the world and headed right for us.

The three reactor meltdowns have spewed trillions of becquerels of highly radioactive iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90 and plutonium-239 into the atmosphere and Pacific since March 11, 2011. The initial explosions and fires sent untold amounts of radiation high into the atmosphere.

A Feb. 28 report by the Meteorological Research Institute, just released at a scientific symposium in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, says that 40,000 trillion becquerels, double the amount previously thought, have escaped from the Unit 1 reactor alone.

This has resulted in fallout around the globe that especially impacts the Pacific and parts of America and Canada — two countries downwind of Japan on the jet stream. British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Ontario have been hit especially hard by rain, sleet and snow, in some cases with dizzying amounts of high radiation.

A March 6 Department of Biological Sciences study conducted at California State Long Beach found that kelp along the coast of California was heavily impacted by radioactive Iodine-131 one month after the meltdowns began. The virulent and deadly isotope was detected at 250 times levels the researchers said were normal in the kelp before the disaster.

Radioactive fallout in St. Louis, Mo., rainfall, which has been monitored at Potrblog.com since the crisis began, has been repeatedly so hot that levels have been reached that make it unsafe for children and pregnant women. An Oct.17, 2011, St. Louis rainstorm was measured on video at 2.76 millirems per hour, or more than 270 times background levels.

The main wave of water-borne radiation from the meltdowns, including highly mobile uranium-60 buckyballs, is surging across the Pacific along the Kuroshio Current, second only to the Gulf Stream for power on the planet.

Millions of tons of seawater and fresh water have been used to cool the melted cores and spent fuel rods, generating millions of tons of irradiated water. The Kuroshio Current is transporting a significant amount of this escaping radiation from Fukushima Daiichi across the Pacific toward the West Coast.

The 70-mile-wide current joins the North Pacific Current, moving eastward until it splits and flows southward along the California Current, which flows along the coast. The American government has done nothing to monitor the Pacific Ocean for over half a year, even though a Texas-sized sea of Japanese earthquake debris is already washing up on outlying Alaskan islands and is suspected to have already hit the West Coast, including California.

“In terms of the radiation, EPA is in charge of the radiation network for airborne radiation; it’s called RadNet,” EPA Region 9 Administrator Jared Blumenfeld said on Feb. 9, during a news conference about new ship sewage regulations. “And we have a very significant and comprehensive array of RadNet monitors along the, actually along the coast, but on land. We don’t have jurisdiction for looking at marine radiation. Perhaps NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) would be able to answer that question, but we don’t have data or monitor it.”

NOAA suspended testing in the Pacific for Fukushima radiation last summer after concluding that there wasn’t any radiation to be detected.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Two related stories appeared over the weekend. Al-Wafd reported (yet another; see earlier here) pronouncement by Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Supreme Guide Mohammed Badi calling for the jihad conquest (i.e., genocidal destruction) of Israel. Shortly after that report appeared, the Obama administration announced the MB's newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had been invited to the White House in September.

Juxtaposed, these reports underscore, at best, the sheer fecklessness of the Obama administration. A plausible alternative scenario, given the unprecedented level of MB penetration of this regime (an ongoing problem through several administrations now) would be that our current political leadership is abetting the cultural and military jihadist aspirations of the mainstream Islamic MB movement: the destruction of Israel, and the re-creation of a trans-national Muslim Caliphate

(CBS News) January to June 2012 was the warmest first half of any year on record for the contiguous United States, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The average temperature during that period was at 52.9 degrees F, which is 4.5 degrees above the typical average. Twenty-eight states east of the Rockys were had record warm temperatures, with an additional 15 states in the top 10 for warm temperatures. Every state across the contiguous U.S. had warmer than average temperatures, except Washington.

Heat blamed for at least 46 deaths, relief on the way

Video: High temperatures putting people at risk

Midwest, East feeling the effects of record-breaking heatwave

The first six months were also drier than average, producing 1.62 inches below nationally-averaged precipitation. Fourteen states had precipitation totals among their ten driest for the time period. However, wetter-than-average conditions were observed Northwest and upper Midwest. Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington had six-month precipitation totals among their ten wettest.

Assumption Parish emergency officials have asked to meet with an expert from the U.S. Geological Survey and for portable seismic equipment to get a better understanding of new tremors reported in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas, officials said Friday. The earth tremors are being reported by residents in a swampy area of northern Assumption Parish where venting streams of natural gas have been roiling the surface of waterways for about a month. The source of the natural gas remains uncertain and is not an explosive risk but detailed tests to fingerprint the source of the leaking gas are pending, said John Boudreaux, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparednes. He said company reports posted on the parish’s website are from earlier tests that mainly established that natural gas had been bubbling up through the waterways. Boudreaux said residents reported tremors last month and again on Tuesday and Wednesday, about 7:30 a.m. each day. State and parish officials have not made a connection between the tremors and the natural gas releases and are focusing on the oil and gas infrastructure in the area to pinpoint the source of the leaking gas. One of those lines of inquiry has been the Napoleonville Dome, a 3-by-1-mile salt dome containing 51 caverns used to produce brine and for hydrocarbon storage.rnrnThe Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas are on one of the dome’s flanks. Two of the caverns store natural gas.Boudreaux said the cavern holding natural gas nearest to the two communities has undergone a scientific test to assess its integrity. He said the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources is evaluating a report on the test and is expected to provide the results next week. The cavern is ultimately owned by Chevron Pipeline. The other cavern, which is about a mile north of the Chevron cavern and is owned by Acadian Gas Pipeline of Houston, Texas, has been shut in for the past five days as a precaution and is being monitored, Boudreaux said. Parish officials have also said they monitoring the air for natural gas levels and what is called the lower explosive limit, or LEL, around the waterborne bubble locations and in populated areas. LEL indicates a risk of explosion. The LEL has been zero in almost all reports. In a news release Friday, parish officials said that in the Sportsman’s Drive area of Bayou Corne, a stationary air monitor hit 25.2 percent of the LEL on Thursday but officials say the reading is suspicious. Sheriff Mike Waguespack warned the public Friday not to tamper with the monitoring equipment. He said anyone caught tampering or trying to feed the monitors some type of foreign source “will be handled accordingly and will be arrested.”rnrnConcerns would occur at 60 percent of LEL, and 100 percent would reflect an ignition risk. Boudreaux said he also heard community concerns about daily air monitoring reports on the parish website. The reports reflect passes by a boat near the bubbling locations and recently installed neighborhood air monitoring equipment, Boudreaux said. He said monitoring tests for chemicals in addition to LEL, including, in some cases, hydrogen sulfide, or H2S. Hydrogen sulfide is regularly tested in connection with oil and gas exploration. He said concerns would begin at levels of 35 parts per million and can be toxic at 100 ppm. The latest reports Friday show less than 1 ppm for hydrogen sulfide.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Daily Mail:
God particle is 'found': Scientists at Cern expected to announce on Wednesday Higgs boson particle has been discovered
Scientists 'will say they are 99.99% certain' the particle has been found
Leading physicists have been invited to event - sparking speculation that Higgs boson particle has been found
'God Particle' gives particles that make up atoms their mass
Fermi Lab in Chicago also 'closing in' on proof of Higgs boson
By ROB COOPER
PUBLISHED: 08:00 EST, 1 July 2012 | UPDATED: 02:44 EST, 3 July 2012

Scientists at Cern will announce that the elusive Higgs boson 'God Particle' has been found at a press conference next week, it is believed.
Five leading theoretical physicists have been invited to the event on Wednesday - sparking speculation that the particle has been discovered.
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider are expected to say they are 99.99 per cent certain it has been found - which is known as 'four sigma' level.

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at
www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales

Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information on affected area and expected duration please see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/drap/index.html.

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at
www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales

Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information on affected area and expected duration please see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/drap/index.html.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

A massive land hurricane known as a “derecho” pounded the Mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast last night with winds of up to 91 mph, downing trees, knocking out power for more than 3.4 millions Americans and killing at least 10 people. Some utility companies are calling the power outages “catastrophic” and say it will take days to bring the power back online. “Last night’s thunderstorms caused the broadest non-hurricane related power outage in Virginia history,” CNN reported Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell saying. “This is not a one-day situation; it is a multi-day challenge,” he said.
Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio have declared states of emergency. Especially hard hit will be the poor, the elderly, the infirm and shut-ins as many will have no air conditioning or fans despite record high temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, no refrigeration, no Internet service, lights, and sporadic, spotty mobile phone coverage. We got hit in the Washington, D.C. area around 10:30pm last night and we’re just turning on the Weather Channel to find out what was happening when everything shut down.